MGH Institute of Health Professions PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences AWARDS AND
May 13, 2025 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION CEREMONY
WELCOME
Yael Arbel, PhD, CCC-SLP
OPENING REMARKS
Alan Jette, PT, PhD, MPH, FAPTA
STUDENT SPEAKER
Baothy P. Huynh
2025 PhD Candidate
RESEARCH MENTOR REMARKS
Dr. Benjamin Adams, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, CSCS
Joanna Christodoulou EdD
Julie Keysor, PT, PhD
Teresa Kimberley, PT, PhD, FAPTA
PROGRAM AWARDS
The Dr. David Krebs Doctoral Research Fund Award
Elise Townsend, DPT, PhD, PCS
The Gregory L. Lof Dissertation Support Fund
Jordan Green, PhD, CCC-SLP, FASHA
CLOSING REMARKS
Yael Arbel, PhD, CCC-SLP
2025 DEGREE CANDIDATES
Stephen Grist
Research Mentors
Benjamin Adams, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, CSCS
Katie Taylor, DPT, CLT, OCS
Dissertation: Musculoskeletal Injury and Military Physical Fitness: A Dynamic Relationship
Thank you to Dr. Teresa Kimberly for taking a call from Guam for an unusual application request, to my research mentor team of Dr. Katie Taylor, Dr. Ben Adams, and Dr. Rich Westrick for the experience and flexibility, and to Dr. Elise Townsend, my academic advisor, for the support and encouragement during the program.
Almost nothing happened the way I expected it to during the program and I wouldn't change a thing! I want to thank my family for their patience in dealing with me and my friends and colleagues for keeping me grounded when I started going too far down rabbit holes. This program is just the start of a long journey, and I am grateful to have started it at the MGH IHP.
Baothy Huynh
Research Mentor
Dr. Teresa Kimberley, PT, PhD, FAPTA
Dissertation: Probing cortical inhibition in focal dystonia: multimodal investigations across hand and laryngeal subtypes
I want to sincerely thank the many people who helped me reach this point.
To my research mentor, Dr. Teresa Kimberley, thank you for your steady guidance, endless patience, and unmatched ability to pair honest feedback with homemade baked goods. You believed in me long before I believed in myself, and your support carried me through more than a few existential crises. You helped me grow not only as a scientist but also as a thinker, writer, and person. Your support shaped every part of this work.
I am deeply grateful to my committee for their generous time, expertise, collaboration, and feedback throughout this process. To my lab mates, past and present, thank you for sharing ideas, code, Dunk’s, and solidarity. Your camaraderie made the chaos more bearable and the breakthroughs more fun. To my PhD cohort, thank you for doing everything first quals, prospectus, defenses watching you all on your journey gave me inspiration and reassurance that it can be done. To all of our research participants who volunteered their time and energy - thank you. This work truly could not have happened without their generosity.
I am indebted to my family and friends for their constant love and encouragement and for being there through every stage of this journey. And to my husband, Brandon thank you for reading every draft, listening to every practice presentation, debugging every piece of code, and offering thoughtful feedback even when I (predictably) disagreed. Thank you, too, for understanding when I didn’t change my name after we got married I promise it wasn’t personal; I just already had citations. This dissertation carries my name, but it is built on the care, generosity, and wisdom of many.
Amber La Marca
Research Mentor
Dr. Dr. Julie Keysor, PT, PhD
Dissertation: Utilizing Behavior Change Techniques and Rehabilitation Technology to Promote Physical Activity in the Home and Community
Thank you to my research mentor, Dr. Julie Keysor, who has guided me both professionally and personally. I can’t imagine getting through this PhD without you. You helped me ignite my passion for research and find my path. Thank you to my academic advisor, Dr. Elise Townsend, who helped me navigate the many twists and turns of my PhD journey. Thank you to my fabulous committee members and all the amazing colleagues I have been blessed to work with, especially my RECON team- your projects and ideas have made me a better scientist. Most importantly, thank you to my family. To my husband, thank you for taking this leap with me and for supporting me and believing in me every step of the way. And to my newest little guy Rhys, you make my corner of the world better every day.
Research Mentor
Joanna Christodoulou, EdD
Dissertation: The Neurosurgical SLP: Investigating neurocognitive functional preservation, outcomes, and plasticity
PROGRAM AWARDS
The Dr. David Krebs Doctoral Research Fund
The Dr. David Krebs Doctoral Research Fund was established by family and friends of Dr. Krebs to honor his passion for the rehabilitation sciences. He was first and foremost a physical therapist who was also a biomechanist and who loved to do anything with tools and engineering. In addition, Dr. Krebs was a prolific contributor to research literature with over 200 publications and the recipient of many awards for his important contributions to professional education and research. During his time at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Dr. Krebs was a staunch advocate for a PhD Program. The MGH Institute established a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences in 2012. The Dr. David Krebs Doctoral Research Fund provides an annual award to a PhD student to support their scholarly activities and dissemination of research in areas related to motor function.
The Gregory L. Lof Dissertation Support Fund
In his 20 years at the Institute, Dr. Lof has maintained an unwavering focus on the wellbeing of his students and has strived to ensure they have the resources required to be successful. He understands the importance of financial support as students work toward achieving their aspirations. It is with this devotion to student success that Dr. Lof helped to establish the Gregory L. Lof Dissertation Support Fund as his legacy at the Institute. The fund distributes one award per year to any PhD candidate to support their research dissertation expenses not covered by other sources of funding.
